Maren
An hour passed as we climbed on horseback, and though we anticipated to find more soldiers up the trail, no one came.
But we found the avalanche, full of packed snow and broken trees. And just below it, the Rivean’s camp.
It huddled between the highest points of the mountain, cut from heavy drifts, alight with torches and campfires. A line of catapults sat nearest to the top, and below that, scores of overlapping canvas.
Kye halted when he saw it, his eyes traveling over the tents, counting men. I didn’t try. The canvases stretched down the face of the mountain and out of sight. Distant movements of the men below intersected and blurred like ants swarming a carcass. There had to be ten thousand of them.
“Is this their entire army?” I asked, glancing at Kye.
He slowly shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
“How are they livinghere? On amountain?”
Kye shook his head again, his eyes drifting up the slope and back. From the camp, the Riveans had carved a new trail. A simple straight shot over the ridge. No wonder we hadn’t comeacross very many of them—they weren’t using the original pass. They’d dug out the snow and made their own.
“Mesto Popola lies due East of here. Right under that ridge,” he said.
I frowned. “The City of Ash?”
He nodded. “Their version of Winterlight. The stronghold they use to guard the mountains. It’s fortified against attack, and unlike Winterlight, the fortress itself is large enough to house its army.” He exhaled. “The fact that they’re here instead, camped in tents in the snow…”
“They’re waiting to attack Calder,” I finished for him.
His eyes darted back to the encampment, the shifting throng of men. “They’ve used the mountains to attack before.” He sighed loudly, indicating at the ridge above us. “We can’t take the new trail they cut. We’d be too visible. But that looks like a notch we can work our way through. We need to camouflage Kolibri. If it were snowing, we might be able to hide under the flurry. But the sky is clear. There’ll be nothing hiding us up there.”
I slid from my saddle, my thighs disappearing in deep snow. Kye dismounted to help, pulling his own blanket from his pack.
The wool tucked neatly under Kolibri’s saddle where it hung from her rump, though it flopped over her eyes. When we’d finished, the mare simply looked at us, outraged.
I patted my horse’s neck. “Sorry, girl.”
Ahead, Kye unfastened a length of rope from his saddle. “I don’t have to tell you this is dangerous.”
“No,” I said, hand slowing over Kolibri’s blue-black hair.
“We could easily step into a hundred-foot drop covered with powder and wouldn’t know until we fell.”
I opened and closed my mouth, staring at the windburn of Kye’s cheeks. He leaned forward and tugged the sides of my fur cloak together, fastening a button that had come undone. “So,here’s what we’ll do. I’ll tie the rope around me, and we’ll fasten the other end to Sero. Then I’ll go first, twenty feet ahead of you and the horses. If I drop, Sero will catch me. You’ll just need to walk him backwards and pull me up.”
I lifted my chin. “I should go first. It was my idea to take the mountains.”
“Nope,” he said, unraveling the rope.
“Kye.” I waited for him to look at me, but he didn’t. My heart skipped with sudden recklessness, but I pushed fear down under my skin. “I can talk to water.”
His fingers slowed for a moment. Then he continued winding the rope around his hips.
I gritted my teeth. “I’ll know if something’s unsafe ahead. Snow is more manageable than ice. I’d be able to feel if a drop loomed under my next step.”
Kye knotted the rope under his navel, pulling both ends through his legs. I glared at the makeshift harness, anger sparking at his choice to ignore me.
“It’s pointless for you to risk falling through holes in the snow when I could’ve sensed they were there to begin with.”
“I agreed to take you up the mountain, Leihani. I never agreed to let you drop off the side.”
“I won’t.I can talk to water.”
